Christoph Lechner holds the Chair of Strategic Management at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). He is Director of its Institute of Management and leads the Excellence Initiative on "Responsible Corporate Competitiveness" (RoCC).

In addition, he serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of Helvetia (insurance industry) and Hügli (food industry), both listed at the Swiss Stock Exchange.

main focuses

Strategic Management; Prof. Lechner’s present research interests are in the area of strategy processes, alliance & network strategy, business models and corporate strategy. He has written five books as well as numerous articles in journals and books. ; His research has been published in outlets such as Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Research, Long Range Planning, MIT Sloan Management Review, Wall Street Journal, European Business Forum, Harvard Business Manager, Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft, and others.

2010 Best Lecturer Award, MBA Program, University of St. Gallen
2008 Best Lecturer Award, MBA Program, University of St. Gallen
2006 Winner of the Sumantra Ghoshal Research and Practice Award of the Business Policy and Strategy Division, Academy of Management (together with Karolin Marx and Steven Floyd)
2006 Distinguished Paper Award of the Business Policy and Strategy Division, Academy of Management (together with Karolin Marx and Steven Floyd)
2005 Winner of the SMS Best Conference Paper Award, International Conference, Strategic Management Society (together with Steven Floyd)
2004 Finalist for the SMS Best Conference Paper Award, International Conference, Strategic Management Society (together with Dovev Lavie and Harbir Singh)
2001 Winner of the CapGemini Ernst&Young Award for the ,Best German Business Book’ for the book: “Strategisches Management: Wie Strategische Initiativen zum Wandel führen”, Stuttgart: Schäffer-Pöschel (together with Günter Müller-Stewens)
1999 Winner of the Dr. Peter-Werhahn-Price for Outstanding Achievements in Business Administration and Philosophy of Science, University of St. Gallen
1992-1993 Scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Master in Economics, USA

affiliations

2000- Reviewer for the Swiss National Foundation (SNF)
2000- Ad-hoc Reviewer for Journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Business Studies, & Reviewer for conferences such as AoM, SMS, EGOS, or VHB.
2008- Affiliate of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Industries Studies Program
2006- Member of the Association of German Professors of Management (VHB)
2006- Member of the Jury: Annual ASCO (Association of Swiss Consulting Firms) Award on Best Business Transformation, Switzerland
1998- Member of the Strategic Management Society
2001- Member of the Academy of Management
2008-2010 Elected Officer, Program Chair & Chairman of the Strategy Process Interest Group, Strategic Management Society
2005-2009 Member of the Jury: Annual Best Conference Paper Award, Strategic Management Society
2010 Member of the Conference Committee: "Intersections of Strategy Processes and Strategy Practices", Strategic Management Society, Lapland (Finland)
2001 Member of the Conference Committee: "Strategy Process Research", Strategic Management Society, St. Gallen (Switzerland)

At the university, Prof. Lechner teaches selected topics of strategy in PhD, MBA and EMBA programs. He has consulted on strategy and educated executives for several companies around the world such as Allianz, Altana, Booz & Company, Clariant, Credit Suisse, Daimler, Fresenius, Munich Re, PWC, SAP, Siemens, Swiss Re, Swiss Life, Oracle, VP Bank, Uralita, etc. He also was co-founder of the Swiss Virtual Busi-ness School AG, a leading provider of e-based learning programs.

Prof. Lechner holds two Master degrees, one in Economics from Wayne State University (USA) and one in Business Administration from the University of Augsburg (Germany). He received his Ph.D. in 1999 and his Habilitation (Venia Legendi) in 2004, both in Strategic Management from the University of St. Gallen. Previously, Prof. Lechner has worked about seven years for Deutsche Bank Group, including an apprenticeship program, assistant to a managing director, corporate banking in Germany and corporate finance in Singapore.

He was Guest Professor at the Business School of the University of Connecticut (USA), Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (USA), and IAE Business School of the Universidad Austral (Argentina).

During his career, Prof. Lechner received offers as Professor of Strategic Management from Bocconi University (Italy), EM Lyon (France), European School of Management and Technology (Germany), University Mannheim (Germany), and University of St. Gallen (Switzerland).